G6 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Grass Seed. 



Redtop 



Crested dog's tail 



Orchard grass . 



Tall ]neadoAv fescue 



Sheep's fescue . 



Italian rye grass 



English rye grass 



Eeed canary grass 



June grass 



Rough stalked nieado 



The seedsman adds, however, that these percentages are given as 

 information only and not as a guarantee. 



The purchaser ought not to suffer from the fact that, on 

 account of the unfavorable conditions above mentioned, good 

 grass seed is difficult to procure. The dealer should test his seed 

 carefully, and sell it according to its real value. If the buyer is 

 not willing to pay more for such seed than for trash, it is his own 

 fault and he deserves no sympathy. 



However, the buyer under present conditions is at a great dis- 

 advantage, as the following illustration will show : A sample of 

 seed sold by one of the most prominent dealers in this country 

 for yellow oat grass (Avena flavescens), was tested in our labora- 

 tory and found to contain 74.4 per cent of impurities, of which 

 over four-fifths Avas the seed of common hair grass {Deschampsia 

 flexuosa), the balance consisting mostly of chaff and Aveed seeds. 

 Two hundred pounds of this seed was bought by the person Avho 

 furnished the sample, at a cost of fifty dollars per hundred. 

 Hair grass sells for about ten dollars per hundred pounds, and is 

 practically worthless for lawn or pasture. 



The grains of these two kinds of grass are very similar in ap- 

 pearance, and exceedingly difficult to detect Avithout the aid of a 

 lens. The seed of yelloAv oat grass is imported from Europe, 

 where it is often deliberately adulterated Avith tliat of hair grass. 

 It is not likely that the American seedsman noticed the fraud. 

 Of the 25.6 per cent of ]mre seed, but 11.5 per cent germinated 

 under the most favorable conditions, or a little less than 3 per 

 cent of the entire sample. In other Avords, there Avas a loss of 

 about ninety-one dollars out of the hundred Avhich the seed cost, 



